Paris

About Paris

Paris has two distinct naming histories: the French capital and the Trojan prince of Greek mythology. The city's name comes from the ancient Parisii people, while the mythological name has no settled meaning. Used for both girls and boys, Paris combines a familiar modern place name with a much older literary identity.

The city name

The capital of France takes its name from the Gaulish tribe known as the Parisii. Using Paris as a personal name therefore brings a geographical association rather than a simple translation from an everyday French word.

The name's modern familiarity comes partly from the city's international prominence. In personal naming, it can function in the same broad way as other place names, carrying a location into a given-name setting.

This route is separate from the Paris of Greek legend. The shared English spelling brings them together visually, but they do not have a common documented origin.

The Trojan prince

In Greek mythology, Paris is a son of King Priam of Troy and Hecuba. His relationship with Helen, the wife of Menelaus, helps set the Trojan War in motion.

The story places him within the conflict between personal desire, hospitality, family loyalty, and war. Helen's departure for Troy becomes a central event in the wider mythological tradition.

The name itself may have a Luwian or Hittite background, but its meaning remains unknown. Italian Paride is a related form in the classical name family.

That history gives Paris a long masculine literary tradition alongside its later use as a city-inspired name for either sex.

Paris in Shakespeare

Shakespeare gives the name to another suitor in Romeo and Juliet. Count Paris is a kinsman of the Prince of Verona and the man Juliet's family wants her to marry.

Juliet's resistance to that marriage is central to the plot. Already secretly married to Romeo, she takes the friar's potion to appear dead rather than proceed with the planned wedding.

Shakespeare's Paris is not the Trojan prince, but his name supplies another established male character in European literature. For readers, this connection can sit alongside the Greek myth without replacing the modern geographical association.

Pronunciation

In English, Paris normally has two syllables and stress on the first: PAR-is. The precise opening vowel varies between accents.

The final s is pronounced in the English personal name. The short spelling remains the same whether the immediate association is a city, a classical character, or Shakespeare's suitor.

American popularity

Girls' use reached its largest count and best rank in 2004, with 2,150 births and number 157. There were 585 girls named Paris in 2000 and 497 in 2025, when it ranked 592.

Boys' use has a separate pattern. Its largest count was 297 in 1991, while its best rank was 556 in 1890. In 2025 there were sixty boys named Paris. The same spelling therefore has documented American use across sexes, with different peak periods.

How popular is Paris?

In 2025, Paris ranked #592 among girls in the United States, with 497 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1917; its largest annual count was 2,150 in 2004. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.